FOCUS ON ASIA | PHILIPPINE SMRS
the simulator to design specialised vocational and higher education curricula. By placing the region’s first US- modelled control simulator in Luzon, the US is positioning the Philippines to act as a regional training hub for SMR technology across Southeast Asia. A USTDA-funded reverse trade mission will bring 10–15
By 1985, the plant was physically complete, but escalating public protests and political instability prevented President Marcos from loading the nuclear fuel. Source: Atomic Tourism.
financing to Meralco and local consortia, provided they select South Korean technology and hardware. South Korea’s domestic SMR deployment strategy has
shifted explicitly in view of the two-year safe-operation rule enforced by PhilATOM. To bypass delays associated with older designs, South Korea is focusing on the innovative small modular reactor (i-SMR) - a 170MWe integral pressurised water reactor. The i-SMR consortium (led by KHNP and KAERI) expects final standard design approval by 2028. In June, the South Korean Government officially designated Gijang County in Busan as the candidate site for Korea’s first domestic SMR, locking in a commercial operational target of 2035. Because the 2035 timeline means South Korea cannot clear the two- year safe-operation rule, KHNP and DL E&C are also pitching localised variants of the larger, fully operational APR1400.
The US pitch The governments of the Philippines and the US formalised an Agreement for Cooperation in Peaceful Uses of Nuclear Energy, commonly known as a 123 Agreement, during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit in November 2023. This agreement, which went into effect in July 2024 following US congressional approval, established a legal framework for the export of nuclear materials, equipment and technology from the US to the Philippines. While South Korea leads on a singular project, the US has
secured a deep institutional and financial foothold within the Philippines utility framework using a strategic consortium approach. The US Trade & Development Agency (USTDA) in February deployed a $2.7m technical assistance grant directly to Meralco PowerGen Corp to fund a comprehensive SMR Adoption Study to shortlist US technology providers. Under the strict federal rules of the USTDA request for proposals, the contract cannot go directly to SMR vendors. Instead, it mandates a neutral, third-party US engineering consultant to evaluate leading US SMR technologies (such as GE Hitachi, Westinghouse and NuScale) against the Philippines-specific geographic conditions and deliver a final, implementation road map to Meralco. In addition, the US State Department announced it would
provide a $1.5m nuclear reactor control room simulator to the Philippines under the Foundational Infrastructure for Responsible Use of Small Modular Reactor Technology (FIRST) programme. The simulator, based on NuScale Power’s VOYGR SMR design, will be installed at a technical institution within the strategic Luzon Economic Corridor. The system operates in tandem with a broader $2.5m
public-private partnership led by Fulbright Philippines, the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority and AboitizPower. This allied academic network will use
22 | October 2026 |
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Philippine private sector and government officials to the US for a first-hand look at cutting-edge US reactors, supply chains and training facilities “to build partnerships that facilitate the deployment of trusted US civil nuclear technology to critical infrastructure in the Philippines”. New funding through the FIRST programme will establish partnerships between Philippine universities and Texas A&M University and King’s College London to support the development and integration of new SMR curricula into engineering programmes in the Philippines. Earlier SMR forays into the Philippines were not so
successful. In 2023–2024, NuScale partnered with Philippine infrastructure company Prime Infra to scope out a multi- billion-dollar investment structure, identifying potential site configurations. However, this lost momentum after NuScale and the Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems mutually agreed to terminate the Carbon Free Power Project in Idaho due to financial difficulties. Faced with NuScale’s domestic setbacks and a $6.5bn–7.5bn price tag for the proposed 462MWe Philippine layout, Prime Infra paused its active capital allocation for the project. However, Prime Infra remains a key private industrial player watching the evolving US-South Korea SMR race. The Ultra Safe Nuclear Corporation (UNSC) signed a formal agreement with Meralco in November 2023 for a pre-feasibility study on UNSC’s 15MWe high- temperature, gas-cooled micro-modular reactor intended to power remote, off-grid island communities. Hit by severe funding shortages and internal liquidity crises, USNC officially filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in October 2024. This served as a major turning point for Philippine utility planners, reinforcing their conservative strategy toward early stage technology. Meralco shifted its focus to massive, financially resilient engineering heavyweights such as South Korea’s DL E&C and established US players backed directly by the $2.7m USTDA grant framework.
Future prospects The power struggle continues. While the USTDA study may ultimately recommend an alternative to NuScale, such as BWXT, Holtec or Westinghouse, the US has to some extent tied itself to the NuScale technology through the Luzon simulator. Meanwhile, Meralco has already sent its first batch of Filipino scholars to South Korea’s KINGS academy for training. By training PNRI regulators and Meralco engineers on NuScale systems, the US is positioning its technology as the default regulatory standard for local licensing. Meanwhile, South Korea offers highly predictable, low-cost nth-of-a-kind timely hardware construction and can access standardised domestic parts ecosystems. The race will ultimately be decided by a strict regulatory
gatekeeper. Under Philippine law, no developer can receive an official licence to load fuel and operate commercially until their specific reactor design has operated safely for two consecutive years in its country of origin. So, whichever SMR company achieves full commercial operation on its home grid first will gain a decisive advantage. That company will be the first legally allowed to claim the highly lucrative Pioneer NPP status. ■
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